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Forum:A Critique of MovieGuide's review of TMNT (2007)
The following is a transcript of the Dozerfleet founder's review sent to Movieguide.org, regarding factual errors made in their review of ''TMNT (2007). The critique is from 2007 also. Transcript Fall 2007 An honest attempt, but I would like to point out a few flaws with the review... # Leonardo fights with Raphael midway through the movie, NOT at the way beginning with Michaelangelo. # There is possible implied immorality, since April and Casey are living together; but there is nothing to suggest that they are actually married. This is downplayed, but still there. # I didn't quite understand the part about "stories that went nowhere." Any incoherence in the presentation dealt with the fact that fans of the comics and/or the 2003 cartoon would understand most of the back-story. # The odd jobs the Turtles take on is just to show how they cope with a life that they feel has no direction. # The intro was a minimal effort to give newcomers an insight into the world just in the bleak chance that someone going had never been exposed to previous Turtles material. # The humor in this movie focuses more on the idea that the interest pursuits that each Turtle takes on does not necessarily bring them the happiness they thought it would when they take it to extremes to the point of letting their family dynamic suffer. This is actually a very good lesson for real life. One's vocation isn't always what one thinks it is at first. # The central theme is the emphasis of the movie on the dynamic of family, and how families that don't function wholesomely together usually lead to unwholesome individuals, and vice-versa. # The thing with the stars aligning to unleash a beam of energy on the Earth that unlocks monsters from another world is merely modification of a similar plot device that is used often in sci-fi and anime circles. A similar theme was used in the first Fantastic Four movie. #* Yet, none of this made any reference to the stars guiding someone's future or destiny. None of this actually made serious reference to the constellations of the Zodiac as they relate to astrology. #* Therefore, to write this off as "looking for answers in astrology" is dishonest bashing, taking the star reference out of context, and is not the kind of professionalism I've come to expect from MovieGuide. # The "calm yourself" advice does not necessarily have to be interpreted in an Eastern Religion sort of way. Even Solomon gave advice against hot tempers, and in favor of calm, disciplined behavior. Paul and even Jesus spoke of the same. To treat Splinter's urging that the Turtles not act merely on blind anger as being a negligible value - simply because it may or may not prefer Buddhist/Shinto reasons over Christian reasons - is no honest way to deal with the issue. The differences in why Christ said it and why Buddha said it should be brought up for clearer understanding by the reader. # The movie has no problem with vigilantism. What it does have a problem with is Punisher-style vigilantism. The Foot Clan and monsters are what they are and are, deemed as "worthy to die." But ordinary criminals are not to be killed. They are to only be subdued and left for the police. That is the code of battle honor the Turtles fight with, and is very similar to Batman's. #* The problem Leonardo has with the "Night Watcher" is because the news has led him to believe that this vigilante actually kills the criminals. Those who know the back-story will know that they once believed this about Casey, before befriending him. They know of Splinter's code of honor; and they don't trust vigilantes who are not trained in any known code of honor. Therefore, to say the movie has "a confused view on vigilantism" is to over-simplify the issue. # Finally, these above issues are not something that is entirely out of reach for parents to explain to their children. Given this, the strong family dynamic values (since when do those constitute a Romantic Pagan view?), and other such things, I see little grounds on which to say the movie is "not worth watching." Granted, I wouldn't take a toddler to see it; but that's because I wouldn't trust a toddler with all the movie's scary monsters. I would have a talk with whomever provided the data that this review was based on. It seems to me like somebody at Movieguide went to see the Turtles movie simply because they were hand-picked to or felt compelled to. But the only real objection I had was April and Casey living together. The only reason I can think of why anyone at Movieguide would even think to say the movie is "not worth watching" is that they themselves, as the review's factual errors make clear to me, weren't even paying attention to the details more than half the time. This suggests that whoever was hand-picked to go had no real emotional vested interest in the movie or anything pertaining to the Turtles franchise, and made the remark in an effort to cover their bias at not having any interest. I can understand if someone at Movieguide wasn't impressed. After all, I felt that Donatello and Michaelangelo didn't get enough character development time. But please, if you're going to bash the Turtles, at least get the facts straight. That's all for now. Rationale for reply The critique of Movieguide's review was from someone who really values them as a source of information regarding movies. However, when it comes to franchises that borrow ideas from Eastern culture, some of the reviewers do a disgustingly poor job at getting their facts straight. It would almost seem that the level of contempt for anything oriental that appears to go on at Movieguide carries over into influencing the degree to which those assigned to actually see the movies in question actually pay attention concerning the movie that they go to see. But they need to understand that just because ideas are borrowed from oriental cultures, that it doesn't automatically mean that something is evil. Also, just because an Eastern religion has overtones and preaches a virtue doesn't mean that the virtue is to be ignored simply because it didn't come from the Bible. Rather, it would do them better to explain which of those values have merit alongside and with the Bible, albeit, for different reasons than in the given eastern faith, and to oppose only those eastern values which contradict the Bible explicitly. On the other hand, this goes back to an argument in 1 Corinthians about meat sacrificed to idols. The Turtles are hardly the first time that this has been done. There were also factual errors in their review of The Ring Two. No one at Dozerfleet has received any feedback on comments made to MovieGuide in regards to their irresponsible reviews of either movie.